Perpetual Deja Vu
by winglesszero
Summary: AU, Rinoa a flamboyant wild child and Squall a moody introvert have the bewilderment and pleasure of meeting each other all over again due to participating in a technological advance that erases any desired elements from your memory. Rated for language
1. prologue

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII's characters, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind's plot, my words.

Note: Sections in _Italics_ are memories or past events.

* * *

Prologue

"So.. Miss Heartilly, please could you tell me what you want freeing from your mind and why." Questioned the somewhat elderly doctor as he placed down the young woman's medical records and pressed the red 'record' button on the diminutive Dictaphone that would document the entire speech she was about to give. Rinoa leant back in the large and comfortable leather clad chair in the confined space of the bland coloured consultation room.

"I want Squall Leonhart rid from my memory…" She paused and watched the doctor scribbled something down on a yellowed piece of paper in his perfect and spiralled handwriting.

"Please, continue."

"I…I hate him, he's so infuriating and passive, you know? I have to challenge him all the time just to check he's still alive in that shell of his. He doesn't interact, he used to always distance himself from me… he'd spend all of his time inside that head of his, probably trying to figure out what he ever saw in me. He's dull, proud, mean spirited and I feel he doesn't deserve a place in my mind anymore." She informed, letting an exasperated sigh escape her full lips and began fiddling with strands of her beautifully silken hair, twirling it around the forefinger of her pale delicate hand.

"I see.. Are these feelings of resentment a result of a break-up in your relation ship with Squall?"

"Yeah…"

"Very well. It's understandable. Many of our clients partake in this procedure after such unpleasant situations." He said, still continuously jotting things of interest down on the paper.

"So.. How does this work?" she asked, shifting nervously in her seat, she had never undergone an operation in her lifetime and you must have to have some serious work done to erase something as compulsory as a memory. It wasn't like they were going to give you a bottle of pills labelled '2 to be taken daily', ironically, what happened if you forgot to take them? "Is it dangerous?"

"Not at all!" The white laboratory coat wearing man reassured, ceasing in his writing. "The procedure to this is built in three stages. The first is simple and requires your co-operation. I want you to go home and collect up all of the objects and items that remind you or that you associate with this man and bring them to your next consultation. With the use of these items we will be able to identify your mind map that you've created for Squall and your memories of him, once this is found the rest is easy going from there."

"So you can't accidentally delete anything else?" She quizzed in a concerned tone, she was a skilled drummer of the up coming local band 'Silent Riot' and didn't want to lose such a valuable talent by having unintentionally obliterated when she was trying to rid her mind of this man. Squall would love that! Her memory would still be branded with him and she'd lose the ability for the one thing she succeed at, well, barring being able to string continuous insults in to one fluent sentence.

"No I assure you once a mind map is located we will be able to delete this one and nothing else."

"Oh, okay."

"Is there any other questions you want to ask?"

"Erm.. Nope don't think so." She felt more relaxed now.

"Well I think you're an ideal candidate for this procedure, Miss Heartilly and I will look forward to seeing you again at our second consultation. If you give this to the receptionist at the desk on your way out, she'll arrange a date for your next consultation." He smiled warmly outstretching his hand over the desk between them, holding a small piece of paper.

"Sure. Thank you Doctor Cid" She returned the smile and retrieved the item from his hands before leaving the stuffy aired room. Strolling down the grey shaded narrow corridor to the waiting room she couldn't help feeling slightly relieved, all those awkward moments, blazing verbal fights, sarcastic comments and that horrible feeling of being worthless whenever she was around him would fade and disappear and she would be her joyful, fun loving self again. After all ignorance was bliss right?

"Can I help you?" chimed the attractive auburn haired woman perched behind the vast entrance desk.

"Erm Doctor Cid told me to give you this." She mumbled handing over the piece of paper, slightly intimidated by this woman's beauty and positive persona, she envied her. The receptionist kindly took the document and scanned her brown eyes along the words the doctor had written.

"Okay then. Let's see when I can next fit you in shall we?" She said picking up a large black book and thumbed through its pages, which were engraved with names dates, some had been scribbled out in thick black ink. "Is Friday the 6th okay for you?" She asked looking back up at Rinoa.

"Sure." She answered flatly, rummaging around in her shoulder bag. She grasped a pen and yanked it from the cluttered innards of her bag. She wrote:

'_ShinRa Inc. – Friday 6th_' on the back of her left hand, the black ink instantly drying on her skin.

"Oh you don't have to do that! I'll give you a card with the date on."

"It's okay, I always lose those things." Replied Rinoa as she stuffed the pen back in it's home.

"Well, we'll see you on Friday 6th then." She beamed.

"Yeah sure."

She stuffed he hands into her coat's pockets and paced off. She had quite a peculiar yet unique sense of style about her that could be described as somewhat bohemian. Her clothes that she was clad in consisted of a dark, thick material short pleated skirt that she wore black tights under, a thin strapped top, that had a v-neck quality to it as well as an intricate pattern design in blue printed on it, while she wore a short khaki jacket over this due to the bitter weather as well as wore and incredibility long indigo scarf that nearly trailed on the ground. Her shoes were an old and worn pair of blue Keds sneakers that she loved so much she never wished to throw them away even if they did have a small tear on her right heel that caused the stray threads to stick out like a cat's whiskers. Her lengthy, dark, glossy hair was partly scraped back into a lose braid. She was an undoubtedly attractive young woman, but unfortunately she didn't see this beauty that everyone commented on.

Rinoa slid the small golden key to her apartment into its counterpart and turned it clockwise, hearing a soft click she jolted the door open, it was a pain, it got jammed whenever it had been locked and so needed a good bashing just so that you get into the small apartment. Her noticeably dark eyes surveyed the cramped area like it was a foreign land to her before she set about doing the task the doctor had requested and began to gather random items. It was mainly old photographs that she stuffed into the black bin liner bag, train ticket stubs from when they had gone to the beach that blustery winter's day, doodles Squall had done while the two of the lazed around in this very apartment (He was fairly artistic for someone so dreary) and her own journal entries about him. She loosely tied the bag and dumped it in the corner of her tiny living room where it would dwell there, abandoned for a week before finally being pick-up again.

She stupidly felt like an idiotic Santa as Rinoa strolled into the consultant room with the bin liner flung over her right shoulder.

"Good afternoon Miss Heartilly." Greeted Doctor Cid cheerfully.

"Hey, I brought the stuff, like you said." She said handing him the bag.

"Good. Well then let's get to it!"

"Erm, how exactly are you gonna get a mind map of him?" She asked.

"This way," gestured Cid, to a door that was on the left wall of the room. "It's simple really, we have a device that monitors brainwaves, when reflecting upon a certain memory, this wave changes," He opened the door and held it ajar for her she entered into a larger room "And by looking at certain waves we can pinpoint your mind map of Squall." He said closing the door behind him.

Rinoa glanced around, the room though slightly larger accommodated for numerous computer monitors, as well as a chair with a bizarre metallic curve helmet object on it's top. It looked similar to one of those slow drying hair dryers you see at hair salons. This caused a smirk to flicker on her face, what they were going to give her a new hairstyle to go with her new Squall free mind? A man who was roughly the same height as Rinoa (which was incredibility short for a middle-aged man!) entered and greeted them.

"Rinoa this is Hojo, our technician."

'Thank god he didn't say 'mechanic' she mentally scoffed, imagining the diminutive man tightening cogs in her mind with a spanner. She was seated in the space-aged hair dryer chair and Hojo adjusted the helmet section of it so that it would sit on the girl's head snugly.

"This isn't going to do any damage is it?"

"Of course not! It's perfectly safe, after all this machine only reads your brain waves, we use a different one to remove the memories." Informed Doctor Cid as he rummaged in the bin liner and produced the train ticket stubs. "Okay, now what I want you to do is look at these items and reflect on their meaning to you." He said placing the dog-eared pieces of card down on a small table before her.

"Ready when you are." Announced Hojo, who was now seated at one of the monitors and already frivolously tapping away on it's ivory coloured keys.

"Okay.." she mumbled as she placed her focus on the tickets, blocking out everything in the room, both the other two occupants, the soft whirling of the computers, the irritating tapping of the keys and even the distant hum of traffic outside.

"_Come on it'll be fun!" she begged, wrapping her arm around his in an attempt to stop him from ignoring her._

"_You call stumbling around in wet sand fun?" he scoffed as they strolled down the cracked pavement. "Besides it's too cold to go and stand on some stupid beach."_

"_It isn't that bad!" She protested playfully._

"_Yeah, well you've got a parka on." Squall retorted. She released her grip on his arm and mischievously punched him._

"_Wuss! You can wear my scarf." She suggested unravelling it and slinging it around his neck. "See? Look how pretty you look." _

"_Fine! We'll go." He sighed, yet it was of the light-hearted kind. _

_Squall had been right, it had been a temperature of sub-zero but it had given her a good excuse to snuggle up to him in order to keep warm. She had suggested going to the beach when the two had been struck down by boredom that day, sometimes it was pleasant to escape the same old scenes of life so the long train ride there hadn't bothered her. She remembered he had fallen over into the wet sand that clumped to his trousers and the two of them had burst out laughing, Squall hardly ever laughed and so it was a rare and once precious memory, which had been the reason she had kept the tickets even though their outing had ended badly. They had got into a fight over something trivial and ended up screaming at each other in a verbal brawl before he had stormed off and caught the earlier train, leaving her alone to furiously mull over what had happened._

"Great! That's great. We're getting a lot of healthy activity." Announced Hojo who gestured at the monitor in order to obtain Doctor Cid's attention. Cid made a contended noise and placed another item in front of Rinoa. This process went on for some time until both Cid and Hojo were happy that they had identified all aspects of her mind map.

"Very well done Miss Heartilly." Praised the doctor as Hojo lifted the hi-tech helmet off her head.

"So what now?"

"Now I will explain to you the other stages of the procedure and we shall book your final consultation." He opened the door yet again and motioned for her to enter the opposite room. Once inside the familiar surroundings of the unventilated consultant room Cid began to explain. "The third and final stage is the actual procedure where we remove the desired element, in this case Squall, from your memory so that you can continue with your life as normal…Now the process is quite simple, you will be put to sleep and we place a similar model of headgear to the hermit you've just worn on you and now that we've obtained your mind map of Squall we can easily identify it and eradicate it."

"..How do you do that exactly?"

"Ultrasonic waves are fed into your brain through two ultra violet beams that will be positioned on each temple section of your head, these waves are strong enough to destroy the required elements yet are impossible of destroying large sections of the brain, they're extremely accurate."

"So they won't cause any brain damage?"

"Well technically this procedure is brain damage" He informed, witnessing the girl's dark eyes widen "But don't let this alarm you, it's only as threatening as a night of drinking."

Great was she going to wake up with a hangover too?

"After the procedure is complete you will awake in a hospital environment and be told that you were suffering from a sever fever and were brought in for overnight observation as a precaution. Also we will dispose of the items you brought in today so that they won't cause confusion with their unexplained presence in your household later on."

Rinoa nodded.

Two days later she was placed under general aesthetic and would never really remember the consultations or her visits to ShinRa Incorporated as these were rid of as well to prevent further confusion. Before the procedure commenced Rinoa had to write down a list of people who she came into contact with on a regular basis as well as their contact information so that the kind people at ShinRa Inc. could send them warnings that she had had a certain element of her memory erased and that they shouldn't mention this subject to her as it will cause confusion and distress to the patient. Rinoa sunk into sleep where her subconscious witnessed the erase of her memories of him like an eerie pantomime.


	2. Breakups and Makeups

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII's characters, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind's plot, my words.

Note: Most sections in _Italics_ are memories or past events.

* * *

Break-ups and Make-ups

Squall slowly paced up and down in the dull innards of his apartment, everything was so dull and monotonous without her, sure she could infuriate him at the drop of a hat but she had a cheerful presence that no other could match. Irritated by his own repetitive movement of his pacing he slumped down into a worn blue chair, considering what to do. Sure the two of them always argued and fell out, it would have been odd if they hadn't… but Rinoa used to always ring a few days later and spill her heart and say how 'out of order' she was or how much she missed him. She hadn't rung and it has been over two weeks since their last dispute took place after Rinoa had stumbled in drunk that night.

He absentmindedly chewed on his bottom lip as his thoughts flurried in his mind, should he be the bigger person and apologize? He must have really pissed her off this time…

She had stumbled through the door and miraculously managed to make it all the way to his small living room before collapsing into a heap on the floor, laughing all the while. Drunken laughter. He could smell the strong aroma of liquor that she wore like perfume. He always hated her when she was drunk; she was more irritating than usual in this state of mind.

"_You should have come, it was great!" she exclaimed tilting her head back so that she could see him, sat in the worn, tattered blue chair. He said nothing but the look etched on his handsome features expressed how disgusted he was with her. "God! Your so boring!" she commented and drowsily attempted to sit up. "Oh by the way, I borrowed your car."_

"_You drove it back here!" said Squall in a tone brimming with disbelief._

"_Well how else was I supposed to get home?" she questioned innocently._

"_Walk, get a bus, shit anything but drive my car in the state you're in!"_

"_Oh shut up! Your car's a pile of shit anyway!" She pouted_

"_That's not the point! You could have crashed or hit someone!" at this Rinoa started giggling again and Squall aimed a questionable glare towards her drunken form sat before him._

"_You did hit something didn't you?" He asked, his voice quieter that before._

"_Don't worry it's only a small dint, no on will notice!" She said after her fit of laughter had subsided._

"_What did you hit?"_

"_Dunno, a fire hydrant?" a smirk graced her lips; she obviously found this amusing and made no effort to hide it from him._

"_A fire hydrant? Are you sure it wasn't a dog? A cat? A small child perhaps!" He hissed._

"_Yes I'm fucking sure, okay!" she growled narrowing her dark eyes. "What's with all the hassle?" the smirk materialized on her lips again as if she had just figured the hidden meaning in his questionings "You're jealous."_

"_Of what?" he snorted at the idiotic implication. _

"_That I can go out and have a good time. I'm perfectly sociable and you constantly live inside that weird little head of yours!" Squall merely rolled his eyes and set his plane of vision else were instead of on her. "No, wait! Your worried!"_

"_Well of course I am! You drove my car drunk!"_

"_Not about that you idiot!" she sighed becoming impatient with his ignorance "You're worried because I went to party alone."_

"_So?"_

"_So while I was out having a good time, you're sat all alone wondering, 'did she fuck someone tonight?" That aggravated him, trust Rinoa to say something so completely unintelligent and untruthful at the opportune moment to hurt him, she thought she knew him threw and threw. After a moment of silence, Squall leaned forward and replied,_

"_No, I knew you would fuck someone tonight, because that's how you get people to like you." Yet it didn't sound as sarcastic as he had meant it, causing Rinoa to think it was a sincere comment, her beautifully brown colored eyes widen in a look of pain and shock before narrowing._

"_Fuck you." She said quietly emphasizing the word's syllables. Despite her drunken state she managed to quickly rise from the floor and make her way to the door. Squall hastily rose and went after her._

"_Rinoa, wait! I didn't mean it like that." He grasped her arm as she yanked open the door but she was now in no mood to reason with this jerk so she brushed his hand away before exiting and deafeningly slamming the wooden door shut. Squall exhaled loudly in annoyance._

For both of their well-being he decided he'd apologize for what he had said, even if she didn't wish to be with him anymore, it hadn't ended on a very civil note, causing him to feel guilty and somewhat immature. Squall rose from his chair and stretched before he strolled over to the door and retrieved his jacket from the hook attached to its wooden form. He tiredly tugged the item of clothing on before stepping out into the tapered corridor.

Rinoa was a year or so younger than him and was in her last year of college where she studied Sociology, Squall had always thought of it as an easier version of psychology, quickly study a group of people's behaviour instead of focusing greatly on a single person's persona, yet Rinoa did always managed to do this to him for some reason. But being a weekend she would more likely be at work than studying. She worked in a small yet popular coffee shop named, 'Java Hut' it's main customers were mainly students. Rinoa loved working there, as it was more of a social thing than an occupation, yet she had taunted that he'd never understand, as he was ineradicably unsociable.

Squall trudged along the pavement, his mind else were, not bothering to move out of people's way as he had learnt that people would soon move out of his path instead. He was greeted by the warmth and strong aroma of coffee as he entered the café, he always hated coming here the atmosphere was constantly too boisterous for his liking. Maneuvering through the sofas, tables and chairs as well as the odd group of people who inconveniently stood in the way he made it to the counter. Rinoa had just handed a latte in a large cup to another adolescent with her usual cheerful smile. Once the girl had left, her eyes fell upon Squall's form and gave him the most unexpected reaction he had ever witnessed from her.

"Hey, what can I get ya?" She asked in slightly up-beat version of the 'Can I take your order please' expression. He blinked in disbelief did she not recognize him? "Erm, sir can I help you?" she questioned a look of puzzlement flickered across her attractive face.

"Rinoa!" Greeted a male voice.

"Seifer! Heeeey!" with that she instantly lost attention to her bizarre customer and leaned over the counter chattering to the tall, handsome man. "Oh, Maria, can you serve that guy please, I'm going on my break!" The girl who Rinoa had called Maria rolled her eyes at her co-worker's lack of enthusiasm towards her job and then switched to 'have a nice day!' mode.

"Hi, can I take your order please?" she said in a more convincing manner than Rinoa had used. Squall, who was still dumbfounded by her peculiar behaviour towards him, blinked and look as if he'd been disturbed from some sort of deep meditation.

"Erm… it doesn't matter." He mumbled and quickly turned on his heels, he had to get out of this place!

"I-I just don't' get it." He muttered burying his face in his hands out of frustration and confusion. He was in the tiny yet beautifully presentable kitchen of the Trepe residence.

"Are you sure it was the right girl?" questioned Zell who hadn't spoken much since Squall's arrival as he had been preoccupied cooking hotdogs, though he didn't live with Quistis an outsider to this household would have thought differently, he was constantly there. It was a wonder to Squall why poor Quistis hadn't changed the locks on the doors, yet she seemed to able to stomach his open persona. Squall shot him a glare, instantly making Zell wish he could retract his words. Instead he busied himself by adding condiments and fowl looking cooked onions to one of his hotdogs. "Want one?" he offered, hoping the peace offering would cheer his gloomy friend up. Squall looked at the food as if it were poisoned.

"Well why don't you consider it a sign." Said Quistis as she placed a cup of coffee on the wooden table he and Zell were seated at. He placed his hands around the cup, allowing the heat of the liquid to warm his hands as well as create a weak reflection of himself.

"A sign?" Zell managed to say in the midst of devouring his food.

"That he should move on." She informed taking her seat. "I know you two did once like.. maybe love each other but you have to admit you've been arguing a lot lately."

"But still we always made up." Break-ups and make-ups went hand-in-hand in their relationship, sure it got tiresome at times but he'd never really thought it would have taken such a bizarre turn. "I've never seen her like this." He mumbled. Zell shifted nervously, sensing his friend's discontentment and glanced at Quistis, who was sipping her drink. "It was like she didn't even recognize me.." Quistis looked at Zell and could see her friend was having a hard time trying to keep what they knew a secret; Zell was never good at that sort of thing. He silently mouthed the words '_Tell_ _him_' to her; she frowned and mouthed '_No_' back.

"I'm sure it's for the best." She reassured, Zell rolled his eyes and took another bite of his hotdog to prevent himself from blurting out anything he shouldn't. He didn't like to see people miserable and even though Squall was the miserable type it was very rarely he had ever seen him this down. "I think the reason why everything has become like this is because you two are opposite ends of the personality spectrum," Squall frowned, didn't opposite's attract or did that rule only apply to magnets? "You should find someone more suited to your personality." She smiled kindly. "Someone calm, mature, the same age as you, you know that kind of thing."

Zell abruptly lost interest in his food, Quistis couldn't be more obvious, hinting at such things, and it made him so agitated he didn't wish to eat out of his disgust towards her actions. She had always liked Squall, every since he had introduced the two of them yet this like wasn't the friendship kind, it ran deeper than that; it was the desire variety of like. Luckily Squall was oblivious to her actions and intimations and so the two merely remained friends. However this wasn't the only factor that was irritating Zell, it was the actuality that the same predicament was occurring between himself and the young fair-haired haired woman, he forever craving her and she forever unaware of him. Disenchanted by this, his urge to inform Squall the truth strengthened.

"Squall, this isn't one of her games, trust me.." he said. At this Quistis shot him an Ice Queen worthy glare, comprehending what he was indicating through his speech.

"So what? Her acting this way isn't deliberate?" He questioned his voice embittered and saddened.

"In a way... yeah." The handsome brunette's face yet again had a frown etched upon his fine features. Since when did Zell ever use ambiguity? Quistis remained silent, knowing if she attempted to silence Zell it would only arise Squall's suspicions further. "She can't really help it."

"What are you on about?" He questioned in an irritable tone becoming petulant towards his friend's indirectness. Zell began fumbling around in his pocket.

"Don't you dare!" hissed the girl opposite him she had to stop him.

"Oh come on Quistis! He should know! Its not fair!" Zell angrily retorted to her attempt at intimidation.

"Know what?" Squall exasperatedly sighed, already irritated by their argument.

"Here."

Squall took the folded piece of yellow paper from Zell's outstretched hand. Quistis, defeated, let a lengthy sigh escape her and focused her attention of clearing the mess her so-called friend had made whilst cooking. He opened it and began to read the text printed on it.

'_Dear Mr. Z. Dincht,_

_We at Shin Ra Inc. are contacting you to inform you that your friend, **Rinoa Heartilly**, has had **Squall Leonhart**, erased from her memory. This has been done at Rinoa's request and is so that she is no longer affected by these memories and can progress through life as normal once more. Please reframe from mentioning this subject to her as this may cause her to experience confusion and misunderstandings. This is merely requested to be done so that Rinoa may stay content and carefree. _

_Yours faithfully_

_Cid Kramer of Shin Ra Inc._'

He placed the letter on the table, his eyes never leaving the bold words written its yellow shaded paper.

"What is this?" he tonelessly questioned still gazing at the letter.

"Everyone Rinoa knows got sent one, Quistis got one and so did Selphie and Irvine… She had you removed from her mind." Informed Zell quietly.

"This is a joke, right?" His voice had found a tone, yet it was one of slight disbelief.

"I'm afraid not…" Came Quistis' voice from the sink she was frivolously scouring at the frying pan, imagining it was Zell's foolish head.

"But why would she do this?"

"It was like I said earlier, she's of an absolutely different persona to you. And being Rinoa, her impulsiveness probably influenced her to go through with it." She informed flatly. "Knowing her she probably did it because it would be a amusing joke to play on you."

A joke? Well he didn't find it humorous. And if it were true, how the hell would she find it comical? She wouldn't recall it. How self-indulgent, she couldn't accept something so she rid her mind of it, it was something she'd do all right.


	3. Consultations

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VIII's character's, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind's plot, my words.

Authors Note: Thank you for the reviews I've recieved so far!

* * *

Consultations

"Mr. Leonhart, please could you tell me what you want freeing from your mind." Questioned Doctor Cid as he took his seat opposite the young man.

"I'm not here for that." Informed Squall dismissively as he retrieved Zell's letter from the man before him and placed it on the desk. Cid already knew what the document was before his aging eyes scanned it's text.

"You really shouldn't have seen this."

"Yeah well Zell's the open type, people don't really trust him to keep his mouth shut." His voice was flat and expressionless.

"I do apologize for this… I really do."

"It's a hoax right?" scorned Squall, verbally shrugging off Cid's admission of guilt. It took a few moments for Cid's mind to comprehend what exactly the younger man was questioning.

"I assure you it is far from it. It's true the procedure hasn't been in circulation long yet we here at ShinRa Inc. have developed this technique through intensive studies and knowledge of the human brain, psychological analyses, even the Freudian theories on the subconscious mind have all aided us to perfect this medical advancement." He enlighten, yet it seemed that Squall wasn't taken back by his persuasive speech.

"So what exactly gives you the right to invade such a personal space and then erase it?"

"Like most companies we are offering a service, Mr. Leonhart, it is primarily the patient's decision to use that service." The Doctor replied, he observed as Squall's blue pastel shaded eyes flicked from his own to the yellow scrap of paper on the desk between them. "I'm afraid the sad truth is, Rinoa chose to have this done, it was never forced upon her…"

"..Why?"

"I can't say, that would interfere with patient confidentiality laws."

"…Whatever. Thanks for your time." He said yet this expression of gratitude seemed to lack any signs of emotion. He quickly rose from his seat and exited the room; he found this place was so eerie, probably due to what they actually did, erase people's unwanted memories for cash, yeah that seems like a perfectly sane and moral business… He passed the reception desk, where the auburn haired receptionist offered him a warm smile; he didn't return it, he merely wonder if the staff at ShinRa Inc got a discount on the procedure.

He slammed the door in a similar fashion Rinoa used to when she stormed out; enraged by whatever it was he had said to invoke such an emotion. He had to take his anger out on something and his apartment door was the first victim of his outburst. He heavily slumped down into his tattered yet comfortable chair. This whole fiasco was unfair and uncalled for, sure he had said some hurtful things but he didn't deserve this bizarre punishment. He'd rather she had given him the traditional cold shoulder instead of obliterating his presence in her memory but of course being in her typical selfish state of mind she'd opted for something that would get back at him for his cruel words, probably finding the whole matter humorous, like Quistis had mentioned…Well two could play at that game. It may not have the same impact upon her and the others it had on him but anything was better than knowing what had happened between them and what she had done to rid herself of him.

"Sir! You can't go in there! Hey! That's a private consultation! Please if you could take a seat in the waiting room, I'm sure Doctor Cid will see you!" exclaimed the receptionist as she had witnessed him barge past her and storm off down the hall to Cid's office. His hand outstretched for the doorknob, ignoring her pleas and suggestions. Forget hanging around in some confined waiting room with all the other oddballs that voluntary opted for this procedure, it was principally Cid's fault he was in this situation, if he hadn't rid Rinoa's mind of him none of this would be necessary. Before Squall's pale hand could grasp the dull bronze handle the door jerked open and Doctor Cid was stood beside a frail elderly lady, his speech to her abruptly halted when his eyes were greeted with the young man's presence.

"Yes, I'll see you on Wednes- Squall?" The look of confusion flickered across both his and the senior citizen's face.

"I'm so sorry, Doctor Cid! I tried to stop him but he just pushed right past me." Explained the distressed yet slightly melodic voice of the receptionist, who was now at Squall's side.

"That's quite alright Julia, please could you take Mrs. Nanahara back to the waiting room and book her another consultation for the 21st?" The girl nodded and ushered the aged woman down the corridor.

"Please, come in." Cid's calm voice seized Squall's attention and he yet again placed his steel blue shaded eyes onto the doctor's form. "So what brings you back here?" He questioned taking his seat.

"I want it done."

"Oh?" He raised his brow in curiosity, the boy had changed his tune all of a sudden and he was interested to know why. "You gave me the impression you were against this."

"In a way I still am…but I don't want to spend time wondering why she'd do something like this. I've got better things to be doing."

"Very well." He rose from the large leather clad chair, and walked the small distance towards a bulky gray filling cabinet. The hinges to one of its doors groaned loudly as the doctor pulled it open, from the depths of the boxed drawer he retrieved a file. Cid began to thumb through it vaguely interested in the information it had to offer; he had already rigorously read its contents before Squall's original consultation.

"How'd you get that?" the youth questioned suspiciously eyeing the doctor, he knew the file was indeed his medical records.

"We have to requested them from your General Practitioner, in your case Doctor Kadowaki. It's merely to check your medical history to ensure us you're a suitable candidate." He enlighten, slightly taken back by the question posed, no one had ever asked how their medical files had turned up in the ShinRa Inc. clinic. Cid yet again took his seat and placed a Dictaphone onto the large oak desk. "Mr. Leonhart, could you please tell me what you want freeing from your mind." He pressed the record button and the rings of the tape could be seen slowly spinning in a clockwise movement.

"You already know why." He hated repeating himself.

"Yes, but I'd like you to perhaps go into greater depth of why you want this done." Squall narrowed his eyes, who did this guy think he was? A physiologist all of a sudden? Seeing the frown on his patient's features, Cid decided to take a different approach in obtaining the desired information. "We need to keep a record of the what you want erased and why, as many of our patients return to have more than one procedure."

"Trust me, I won't." scoffed the boy

"Either way I'm afraid it's mandatory." Squall released audible sigh.

"Fine. I want Rinoa Heartilly erased from my memory."

"And why is that?" Cid knew that he would have to prompt the patient into reveling the necessary information, as the boy's introverted brooding nature was apparent from their first consultation.

"She…She's not someone I want to know anymore.

"Why is that?" Squall glared at him momentarily, annoyed by the doctor's pestering questions

"I'm not entirely sure… I used to like her but then things turned and we couldn't stand being around each other anymore.

"I see.. Could you maybe elaborate on you're relationship with her."

"Well…we were going out for about two years… and she's was very emotional, but then she only really knew about two emotions, happiness and anger, she had a nasty habit of quickly switching between the two, it made it impossible to talk to her at times…"

"So do you think that that put a strain on your relationship with her?"

"Yeah…"

"…Very well, I think that'll do for now." He turned the Dictaphone off, sensing Squall wasn't really going to open up. After fully explaining how the procedure worked and what would happen in the next two consultations the session came to an end. Squall slowly meandered his way back home, he'd push the whole ordeal to the back of his mind for now until, like Rinoa, he'd be blissfully unaware of their past encounters.

It was the third and final meeting he'd remember at ShinRa Inc. Squall lay on the white and pristine sheets of the hospital-like bed after filling a sheet full of contacts of his friends and family he came into regular contact with.

"Okay, everything set?" Questioned Hojo as he turned on some monitors, which began to whirl softly.

"Yes. Squall, you'll feel a slight sting of the anesthetic traveling up your arm, but don't worry this will only last momentarily." Reassured Cid as he placed a clear plastic mask over the young mans lower face. Squall felt the pressure of the needle piercing the small tube that had earlier been placed in the fold of his right arm. Cid slowly pushed the plunger and the transparent liquid in he surgical syringe disappeared, Squall grimaced in discomfort as he felt the medical liquid voyage upwards. "Now I want you to take deep breaths and count to 10 for me." Instructed the doctor, quickly glancing at his patient's vital statistics. He complied.

"1.." He hoped this would work, his skeptical nature was beginning to get the better of him, "..2.." How long would it take do delete his memories of her anyway? "..3.." His eyelids began to feel heavy, the anesthetic must be kicking in, "..4.." Maybe it would have been easier to just push the memories aside instead of taking such drastic measures… "..5…" He was beginning to become increasingly drained and soon he could only concentrate on this matter, "6…" Squall slipped into a deep slumber shortly after muttering the number.

"Hm. They never reach 10." Tittered Cid as he placed an extraordinary piece headgear on the handsome young man's head, carefully brushing back stray strands of his brunette hair, so that they wouldn't interfere with the headgear's minute beams that would bore into his temples. Suddenly the room's door swung opened, obtaining the immediate attention of the doctor and the technician.

"Sorry I'm late, girlfriend trouble." Informed the towering blonde as he shut the door after him.

"Well better late than never, Seifer. You can assist Hojo, I have more important matters to attend to."

Cid exited the small room. Seifer, knowing exactly what to do strolled over to another monitor beside Hojo's and began tapping on the ivory shaded keys of the computer's keyboard, in a bored fashion.

"Girlfriend eh?" Questioned Hojo, he and Seifer often ranted on about mindless subjects of interest whenever doing this monotonous task. "Poor thing." Seifer offered the older man a sarcastic smirk before saying,

"And how is your love life? Still none existent?" Hojo slowed in his rapid typing to present the youth a raised middle finger on his right hand, while the left still continuously tapped the keys.

"Can't be as bad as this guy's though." He mumbled. Seifer raised an eyebrow in interest. Seeing his co-worker's expression the technician elaborated on his comment, "Remember that cutie we sorted out a couple of weeks ago?"

"Which one?" Seifer questioned, surprisingly ShinRa Inc. got a fair number of attractive young women wanting the procedure performed on them, probably trying to remove the vile memories of their now ex-boyfriends.

"The brunette."

"Oh yeah."

"Well this is that girl's guy." Hojo informed flatly, almost as if he'd lost interest in the topic himself.

"Really?" questioned the blonde, his tone slightly weighted with cynicism as he glanced over his broad shoulder at the unconscious man. He saw nothing special.


End file.
